Alasdair MacDonald
@macdonwald.bsky.social
Former university administrator; happily married step-dad to three, and cat-servant to two. Also a “middle-class leftie remoaner lunatic" (wtt Dan Wootton). There are places to visit, books to read, guitars to play, and songs to sing.
Reposted by Alasdair MacDonald
my great-grandparents arrived in the UK in the 1890s with nothing.
they sold pickles from the front room window, took in laundry, worked as tailors.
their children were nurses, teachers, salesmen.
their grandchildren were professors, designers, opticians, doctors, magistrates, entrepreneurs.
they sold pickles from the front room window, took in laundry, worked as tailors.
their children were nurses, teachers, salesmen.
their grandchildren were professors, designers, opticians, doctors, magistrates, entrepreneurs.
December 7, 2025 at 8:59 AM
my great-grandparents arrived in the UK in the 1890s with nothing.
they sold pickles from the front room window, took in laundry, worked as tailors.
their children were nurses, teachers, salesmen.
their grandchildren were professors, designers, opticians, doctors, magistrates, entrepreneurs.
they sold pickles from the front room window, took in laundry, worked as tailors.
their children were nurses, teachers, salesmen.
their grandchildren were professors, designers, opticians, doctors, magistrates, entrepreneurs.
Reposted by Alasdair MacDonald
Post a book you love from the 80s
December 6, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Post a book you love from the 80s
Reposted by Alasdair MacDonald
Reposted by Alasdair MacDonald
Reposted by Alasdair MacDonald
Aren’t we all, pal.
December 4, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Aren’t we all, pal.
Reposted by Alasdair MacDonald
I'll take "Things That Never Happened" for fifty, please Bob.
December 4, 2025 at 10:53 AM
I'll take "Things That Never Happened" for fifty, please Bob.
Reposted by Alasdair MacDonald
Crypto-investor who lives in Thailand gives record-breaking donation to Reform UK, to help it win power in a country he doesn't live in.
Britain's political funding laws are a charred and smoking ruin. Ducking change was a catastrophic mistake by Labour.
www.ft.com/content/db73...
Britain's political funding laws are a charred and smoking ruin. Ducking change was a catastrophic mistake by Labour.
www.ft.com/content/db73...
Reform UK gets record £9mn donation from Christopher Harborne
Nigel Farage’s party attracts far more funding than both Labour and the Conservatives
www.ft.com
December 4, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Crypto-investor who lives in Thailand gives record-breaking donation to Reform UK, to help it win power in a country he doesn't live in.
Britain's political funding laws are a charred and smoking ruin. Ducking change was a catastrophic mistake by Labour.
www.ft.com/content/db73...
Britain's political funding laws are a charred and smoking ruin. Ducking change was a catastrophic mistake by Labour.
www.ft.com/content/db73...
Reposted by Alasdair MacDonald
Even if they were on a "drug mission," the first strike was illegal and the second strike even more wildly illegal.
This is absolute nonsense from someone who committed war crimes and is now scrambling for cover. Lock him up.
This is absolute nonsense from someone who committed war crimes and is now scrambling for cover. Lock him up.
December 4, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Even if they were on a "drug mission," the first strike was illegal and the second strike even more wildly illegal.
This is absolute nonsense from someone who committed war crimes and is now scrambling for cover. Lock him up.
This is absolute nonsense from someone who committed war crimes and is now scrambling for cover. Lock him up.
Reposted by Alasdair MacDonald
Yesterday the President fell asleep, yet again, during a televised fake Cabinet meeting staged so that each of his courtiers could heap praise on him, praise for which he couldn't stay conscious. He woke up just long enough to spew racism. Why is this not being treated as an emergency? >
December 4, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Yesterday the President fell asleep, yet again, during a televised fake Cabinet meeting staged so that each of his courtiers could heap praise on him, praise for which he couldn't stay conscious. He woke up just long enough to spew racism. Why is this not being treated as an emergency? >
Reposted by Alasdair MacDonald
Reposted by Alasdair MacDonald
What makes success/wealth?
- stable economy
- cohesive society
- strong institutions
- predictable markets
Taxes fund the foundations of the environment where wealth can grow.
If you’ve benefitted you should not resent your tax.
Paying tax is patriotic.
- stable economy
- cohesive society
- strong institutions
- predictable markets
Taxes fund the foundations of the environment where wealth can grow.
If you’ve benefitted you should not resent your tax.
Paying tax is patriotic.
December 4, 2025 at 7:40 AM
What makes success/wealth?
- stable economy
- cohesive society
- strong institutions
- predictable markets
Taxes fund the foundations of the environment where wealth can grow.
If you’ve benefitted you should not resent your tax.
Paying tax is patriotic.
- stable economy
- cohesive society
- strong institutions
- predictable markets
Taxes fund the foundations of the environment where wealth can grow.
If you’ve benefitted you should not resent your tax.
Paying tax is patriotic.
Reposted by Alasdair MacDonald
The "Rachel from accounts" thing is sexist, classist, misogyny, and anyone who uses it should be utterly ashamed of themselves.
Too many dinosaurs in this country who cannot abide women who succeed.
Conservative Deputy Chairman Matt Vickers MP should do better 👇 #PMQs
Too many dinosaurs in this country who cannot abide women who succeed.
Conservative Deputy Chairman Matt Vickers MP should do better 👇 #PMQs
December 3, 2025 at 1:11 PM
The "Rachel from accounts" thing is sexist, classist, misogyny, and anyone who uses it should be utterly ashamed of themselves.
Too many dinosaurs in this country who cannot abide women who succeed.
Conservative Deputy Chairman Matt Vickers MP should do better 👇 #PMQs
Too many dinosaurs in this country who cannot abide women who succeed.
Conservative Deputy Chairman Matt Vickers MP should do better 👇 #PMQs
Reposted by Alasdair MacDonald
Unearthed 2016 video: Pete Hegseth straight up says US troops will not follow ‘unlawful orders’ from the commander-in-chief, and there have to be consequences for ‘abject war crimes’.
Guess it suddenly gets blurry when it’s Trump issuing the unlawful orders.
Guess it suddenly gets blurry when it’s Trump issuing the unlawful orders.
December 3, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Unearthed 2016 video: Pete Hegseth straight up says US troops will not follow ‘unlawful orders’ from the commander-in-chief, and there have to be consequences for ‘abject war crimes’.
Guess it suddenly gets blurry when it’s Trump issuing the unlawful orders.
Guess it suddenly gets blurry when it’s Trump issuing the unlawful orders.
Reposted by Alasdair MacDonald
The boats the regime is claiming are going from Venezuela to the US would need to refuel over 20 times to get to Miami.
They are lying to us.
They are lying to us.
December 3, 2025 at 5:40 PM
The boats the regime is claiming are going from Venezuela to the US would need to refuel over 20 times to get to Miami.
They are lying to us.
They are lying to us.
Reposted by Alasdair MacDonald
BBC leading the news this morning with ‘BBC reveals’ that government has spent more than £100m on Covid inquiry
That only reaction is TaxPayers’ Alliance says a lot….
That only reaction is TaxPayers’ Alliance says a lot….
December 3, 2025 at 8:07 AM
BBC leading the news this morning with ‘BBC reveals’ that government has spent more than £100m on Covid inquiry
That only reaction is TaxPayers’ Alliance says a lot….
That only reaction is TaxPayers’ Alliance says a lot….
Reposted by Alasdair MacDonald
If it were steel works we would have a government bailout plan, yet losing thousands of jobs at unis is met with a shrug. & unlike steelworks universities were profitable when they had foreign students.
You are killing the golden goose… one of our best exports…
HOW IS THIS HELPING GROWTH?!
You are killing the golden goose… one of our best exports…
HOW IS THIS HELPING GROWTH?!
Every sympathy for University of Essex (and pressures facing them) but this is very bad news for Southend.
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Essex university to cut 400 jobs as overseas student numbers plummet
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Essex university to cut 400 jobs as overseas student numbers plummet
Essex university to cut 400 jobs as overseas student numbers plummet
Roles to be lost are part of wave of redundancy programmes across UK’s higher education sector
giftarticle.ft.com
December 3, 2025 at 8:14 AM
If it were steel works we would have a government bailout plan, yet losing thousands of jobs at unis is met with a shrug. & unlike steelworks universities were profitable when they had foreign students.
You are killing the golden goose… one of our best exports…
HOW IS THIS HELPING GROWTH?!
You are killing the golden goose… one of our best exports…
HOW IS THIS HELPING GROWTH?!
Reposted by Alasdair MacDonald
Reform’s mission statement:
“Conservatives have failed and Labour will fail too…
We are ruled by an out of touch political class who have turned their backs on our country.
Reform is the alternative”
Where ‘alternative’ = exactly the same stitch-up and failure inflicted by the same wealthy elite.
“Conservatives have failed and Labour will fail too…
We are ruled by an out of touch political class who have turned their backs on our country.
Reform is the alternative”
Where ‘alternative’ = exactly the same stitch-up and failure inflicted by the same wealthy elite.
FT Exclusive: The Reform UK leader told donors he expects a deal or merger between his party and the Conservatives ahead of the next general election, suggesting he does not believe he can sweep to power alone. on.ft.com/44xlHi0
December 3, 2025 at 7:32 AM
Reform’s mission statement:
“Conservatives have failed and Labour will fail too…
We are ruled by an out of touch political class who have turned their backs on our country.
Reform is the alternative”
Where ‘alternative’ = exactly the same stitch-up and failure inflicted by the same wealthy elite.
“Conservatives have failed and Labour will fail too…
We are ruled by an out of touch political class who have turned their backs on our country.
Reform is the alternative”
Where ‘alternative’ = exactly the same stitch-up and failure inflicted by the same wealthy elite.
Reposted by Alasdair MacDonald
Column. British politicians do a lot claiming to face the world as it is, while their actions speak of yearning for the world as it was. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Fear of facing the future has British politics stuck in the past | Rafael Behr
Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves claim to be dealing with the world as it is, but seem to yearn for a world that has disappeared, says the Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
www.theguardian.com
December 3, 2025 at 8:08 AM
Column. British politicians do a lot claiming to face the world as it is, while their actions speak of yearning for the world as it was. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Alasdair MacDonald
Opportunities to transform nature don’t get much bigger than this!
We have the opportunity to conserve 340 acres (138 hectares) of biodiverse countryside surrounding the Cerne Abbas Giant, Dorset.
We have the opportunity to conserve 340 acres (138 hectares) of biodiverse countryside surrounding the Cerne Abbas Giant, Dorset.
December 3, 2025 at 8:25 AM
Opportunities to transform nature don’t get much bigger than this!
We have the opportunity to conserve 340 acres (138 hectares) of biodiverse countryside surrounding the Cerne Abbas Giant, Dorset.
We have the opportunity to conserve 340 acres (138 hectares) of biodiverse countryside surrounding the Cerne Abbas Giant, Dorset.
Reposted by Alasdair MacDonald
It's great that reporting on the double tap has spotlighted the abject criminality of this Administration.
But don't forget: Venezuela is not waging war on America or Americans, and the men killed were not combatants.
The first strike was every bit as illegal as the second.
But don't forget: Venezuela is not waging war on America or Americans, and the men killed were not combatants.
The first strike was every bit as illegal as the second.
December 2, 2025 at 1:22 PM
It's great that reporting on the double tap has spotlighted the abject criminality of this Administration.
But don't forget: Venezuela is not waging war on America or Americans, and the men killed were not combatants.
The first strike was every bit as illegal as the second.
But don't forget: Venezuela is not waging war on America or Americans, and the men killed were not combatants.
The first strike was every bit as illegal as the second.
Reposted by Alasdair MacDonald
Take a moment to watch performance artist Guillaume Juncar. You won’t regret it.
December 2, 2025 at 6:05 AM
Take a moment to watch performance artist Guillaume Juncar. You won’t regret it.